


Just a soul-mate?

by Laser



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Birthday, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Okay mostly just angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-11 22:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7073122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laser/pseuds/Laser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a complicated system, Asahi always thought. Soul-mates. When the younger person in the 'pair' turns 16, the older person gets the younger person's name somewhere on their body. And then it was up to them to find the younger person. When the pair first kissed the younger would get the other person's name in the same spot. It was overly complicated, actually. Why did anything have to be decided by soul-mates? Did everyone have to have a soul-mate? What if one of them died? And what if they were born at the exact same moment?  (As unlikely as that would be.) It was dumb.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The timeline is probably way off, so I guess this is some kind of an AU? Also this is my first fic!

 

It's a complicated system, Asahi always thought. Soul-mates. When the younger person in the 'pair' turns 16, the older person gets the younger person's name somewhere on their body. And then it was up to them to find the younger person. When the pair first kissed the younger would get the other person's name in the same spot. It was overly complicated, actually. Why did anything have to be decided by soul-mates? Did everyone have to have a soul-mate? What if one of them died? And what if they were born at the exact same moment? (As unlikely as that would be.) It was dumb.

 Asahi knew firsthand that it didn't always work out for soul-mates. His mother and father were (had been) soul-mates, but they broke up soon after he was born. Asahi had never even met his dad since he was old enough to remember, and his mom didn't speak highly of him. He didn't have a lot of faith in the soul-mate system.

When he turned 16 himself, last year, he had checked for a name every day for months. It never came, and he never heard from anyone, so he assumed he must be older than his soul-mate. If he even had one. It never really came up; no one else on the team had one yet. He put it in the corner of his mind and forgot about it. Tried to, at least. However much he said he didn't care, tried to ignore things, he still checked for a name, once in a while.

The team was, one by one, groggily arriving to the gym in the morning. It was cool and crisp. Asahi liked mornings in the fall- the temperature was nice, and he could watch the sunrise as he walked to school. Noya and Tanaka had arrived early, and were making a ruckus as Asahi entered the club room. Not that that was unusual. Noya ran up to Asahi in the doorway.

 

“Good morning Nishinoya.” Asahi said. Nishinoya stood close enough to him that he had to look up. Nishinoya's total disregard for personal space had bothered Asahi at first, but now he didn't bat an eye.

 

“Don't you have something else to say to me, Asahi-san?” Noya looked at him expectantly.

 

“I do?”

 

“It's my birthday you oaf.” Noya shoved Asahi playfully and darted back to Tanaka. “I'm 16!!”

 

Oh. Asahi almost can't believe he forgot. It was just too early to remember things like that.

Tanaka slapped Noya on the back. Either he didn't know his own strength, or Noya was unprepared, because Noya very nearly toppled over a bench. They were both laughing. Suga was talking to Daichi about something in the corner. Asahi sighed and opened his locker. This was going to be a long practice. He was already tired, and Daichi had that look in his eye again.

 

***

 

The team flooded back into the changing room after, as Asahi had predicted, a grueling practice. Didn't Daichi realize they all had to go to class after this? Asahi was lost ranting in his thoughts as he tugged his gym shirt off over his head.

 Suga made a noise and, catching him off guard, shoved Asahi into the wall of lockers, pushing his sweaty balled-up gym shirt against Asahi's back.

 

“Suga what-” Asahi sputtered.

 

Suga leaned over Asahi's shoulder, next to his ear and murmured;

 

“There's- something on your back.”

 

What? Like a spider or something? Asahi turned around so his back was to the lockers and brushed his hand on the place Suga had implied. There wasn't a spider or dirt or anything. Did he mean-? Asahi hurriedly pulled on his school uniform. If Suga had meant... That, he wanted to be fully clothed as soon as possible.

 

“What was that for Suga? What did he do today?” Daichi asked. Suga quickly backed away from Asahi and laughed.

 

“What didn't he do today?” Suga patted Asahi's shoulder. “Now hurry up- we really do need to make it to class.”

 

Asahi really didn't want to go to class right now. But Daichi had pushed them all to the limit- and they had run overtime a few minutes. It took all their remaining energy to make it into the classroom on time. Just before he and Daichi headed to their own classroom, Suga pulled Asahi aside.

 

“We'll talk about what happened in the locker room later- there's no time now, but please don't worry about it.” He spoke in a rush. Daichi tugged on his sleeve. Suga opened his mouth to say something else, but just then the bell rang, and they bolted. Daichi was going to get it from someone later for making them all late. Asahi turned back into his own classroom. Suga had asked him nicely, but there was no way he wasn't going to worry. He couldn’t really focus on whatever the teacher was saying. There had to be a name on his back. That had to be what Suga meant, right? What other reason would he have? Well, Asahi wouldn’t put it past him for this to all be a horrible prank.

The morning went on much too long. The clock couldn’t move any slower. Asahi wasn’t sure whether he was looking forward to lunch, to talking to Suga, or whether he was dreading it. When lunch finally came, hopefully Suga would tell him that it was a ‘funny’ joke. Or he wouldn’t.

 

Suga and Daichi always joined Asahi for lunch. Suga sat down next to him and nudged his shoulder.

 

“You probably worried anyway.” Suga grinned at him. “Daichi, go over there. Me and Asahi need to have a private conversation.” Asahi paled. Suga was being way too direct about this.

 

Daichi looked skeptical, but scooted his chair away and started a conversation with a girl sitting nearby.

 

“Asahi, relax. You look like someone just told you you were going to die, or something. It’s just a soul-mate. Congratulations, by the way!”

 

Just a soul-mate? Just the person who you would spend your whole life with, or the person who could break your heart into a million pieces? Asahi had heard of unrequited soul-mates before. He had heard horror stories and warnings. He didn’t feel ready, and his soul-mate was younger than he was, no way _they_ were ready.

 

“Um, thanks for hiding it for me. What did it- uh- who was it?”Asahi said nervously. He was glad Suga knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t want to show off a soul-mark like that. He wasn’t ready, but he couldn’t handle knowing the name was there, and not knowing what it said.

 

“Oh. I didn’t actually see.” Suga dug into his lunch. “Her handwriting was really bad.”

 

Oh. That was anticlimactic. Asahi knew that the name was written in the other person’s handwriting, but he never thought that hard about it. He never thought it could be a problem. What if he never deciphered the characters, and he left someone hanging forever just because they had bad handwriting?

 

“I only got a glimpse though.” Suga took another bite. “We can take another look at it during practice, if you want.”

 

“Yeah- okay. Just, not in front of everyone?”

 

“Deal. I’m as curious as you are! I bet she’s nice.” Suga stood up and stepped back over to Daichi.

 

***

 

  
  


 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Asahi seems like the type of person who forgets birthdays.

Asahi felt almost sick. He couldn't tell whether it was nausea or butterflies. Probably both.

 

He fidgeted by his locker in the club room while everyone else entered. Would he just have to be careful while he changed? Suga wasn’t here yet. Did Suga mean they would look before or after practice?

 

“Asahi-san! You look worried. Stop being worried.” Noya had appeared beside him. “Get changed. Or do you need help?” He grinned up at Asahi.

 

“No! No, Noya-san, I do not need help.” Asahi said quickly. Noya laughed.

 

“I was just joking! Don't be so uptight!” Noya bounded back over to Tanaka.

 

“Have you thought about finding your soul-mate?” Tanaka asked him. Oh yeah, Noya was 16 now. Asahi had forgotten again.

 

“Mm-hm. I kinda hope she’s older than me so I can see her sooner...” He pulled on a t-shirt.

 

“Ooh, Noya-san’s into older women!” Tanaka laughed. Asahi noticed Suga watching the two second-years. He looked a little concerned about something. Maybe he thought that if Noya got a girlfriend he would be too busy for volleyball?

 

It wasn’t that hard to hide his back while he changed. He just had to stand with his back to the wall. Suga told him they would look at it after practice after everyone else had left. He offered for him and Asahi to clean up after practice, so they had an excuse to stay back. Practice went really well. Asahi was able to forget all about whatever happened to be on his back. For a while.

 

Suga threw the last volleyball back into the basket like it was a basketball. It bounced out. He huffed and ran over to place it, gently this time, in the basket.

 

“Are you ready? I’m pretty excited, actually.” He said as he started to walk towards the club room. Asahi wouldn’t say ‘excited’ was the word for what he was feeling. ‘anxious to all hell’ seemed a better fit.

 

“...Why are _you_ excited?”

 

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

 

Suga sat down on a bench, and looked expectantly up at Asahi.

 

“So? Strip for me.”

 

“Not the time for jokes, Suga.”

 

Asahi hesitantly pulled his shirt off and turned away from Suga.   
  


“Oh.” Suga whispered.

 

“What- what is it?” Asahi turned back around. Suga looked up at him, and his eyes were wide.

 

“Um, I still can’t read it! Ha ha...” Suga scratched his head.

 

“Don’t joke around Suga.”

 

“You better not freak out.” Suga furrowed his eyebrows.

 

“You’re making me freak out now by telling me like this!”

 

“Who do we know whose birthday is today?!” Suga blurted out.

 

What?

He didn’t mean that. Suga had joked about this whole stupid thing because it was Noya’s birthday today.

 

“Suga, give me a mirror or something.”

 

“Yeah. Um-” He dug through his bag for a minute. “I don’t have anything. There’s a mirror in the bathroom though.”

 

Asahi hurried into the men’s room. He turned, and strained to see his back in the mirror. And there it was, the name, in the small of his back. Oh. His blood ran cold. Suga was in the doorway, looking at him. He bit his lip.

How? Asahi was already so worried about telling some girl who would probably be terrified of him that he was their soul-mate. And now this? Nishinoya? How was he supposed to even start a conversation like that?

He felt like he was taking something away from Noya.

Asahi just didn’t know what to do, or what to feel, or anything really.

 

“Asahi- I’m totally fine with it- I mean I’m here for you.” Suga put his hand on Asahi’s shoulder.

 

“What do I do?” Asahi put his face in his hands. There was no way he was just going to walk up to Noya and say: _Hey. Sorry I’m not some pretty girl, but I’m your soul-mate, haha.  
_

 

He was screwed.

 

“You don’t have to say anything yet.” Suga handed him his shirt again. “He wont be expecting anything. Just get your thoughts together, okay?”

 

“Yeah.” Asahi pulled on his shirt.

He had always thought his soul-mate would be a girl. Not because he had ever liked a girl, but because that’s what was ‘normal’. But did Asahi like guys? Did he like Noya?

He didn’t really want to tackle that train of thought quite yet.

 

***

 

 

 

  
  


 


	3. Chapter 3

It took everything in him for Asahi to drag himself out of bed. The thought of seeing Noya at practice made his stomach flip over. He scrubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at the clock. Why did morning practice have to be so early?

 

But Asahi felt that he had no excuse to stay home. The walk to school seemed shorter than usual. The sun came up over the horizon, and tinted the clouds pink. It was really pretty. When he approached the doors to the gym, he saw a figure sitting on the steps. Sometimes Noya got to the gym so early he had to wait a while for someone to come and unlock the gym. No one trusted him with keys.

 

Noya was leaning against the door. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing softly. Asleep. Asahi just stood and stared at him for a minute. Noya’s mouth was slightly open, and his eyelashes were really long. He looked totally peaceful and quiet for once. And cute.

 

Asahi sat down next to him. He had always thought of Noya as cute. That wasn’t weird, right? Asahi still had a guilty feeling in his stomach.

 

How was he ever going to tell Noya?

 

Suga finally showed up with keys. He looked surprised to see Asahi and Noya sitting on the steps.

 

“You two are here early.” Suga said as he stepped around and started to unlock the door. “Has he been asleep the whole time?”

 

Asahi nodded. He nervously nudged Noya. Nishinoya grumbled and rubbed his eyes.

 

“Mmmm. How long was I out?” He looked up at Asahi.

 

“Um! Since I got here.” Asahi responded. Nishinoya was right there. Actually seeing him awake in person destroyed any bravery he had mustered, which wasn’t really anything to begin with.

 

Practice went by in a blur. Asahi remembered to be endlessly careful while changing. It was more important now to hide the name. He would have to say something to Noya eventually. He knew that much. It wasn’t something he could avoid forever.

 

After afternoon practice Asahi made up his mind. He walked over to Noya before he hesitated for the 300th time.

 

“Noya, do you want to come over?” As soon as he said it, he regretted it. He really didn’t want to do this.

 

“Yeah!! To your house, you mean? I’ve never been there.” Noya looked excited. Was that good?

 

“Yeah. Are you free in the next couple of days?” Asahi wasn’t sure of anything, really, but he might as well do something about it. This was Noya’s business too, he reasoned.

 

“How about tonight?”

 

Tonight? Asahi almost wilted. He had been hoping for a few days of suffering and preparation.

 

“Well, I’m busy the next couple of days, but not tonight.” Noya clarified.

 

“I’m not busy, so I guess that works. Isn’t that kind of short notice though?” Sooner or later he'd have to. Might as well be sooner?

 

“My parents won’t mind, so if your mom is cool with it.” Noya picked up his bag. “We’ve never hung out outside of the team, have we? We should hang out more often.”

 

Now that Asahi thought about it, it was true. They had never done something alone before. Outside of practice, it was always with other members of the team.

 

That wasn't comforting.

 

“We should just go straight to your house, yeah? I’ll text my mom and let her know.” Noya said. He pulled his phone out of his bag and gestured ahead of them.

 

“Lead the way.”

 

They walked to Asahi’s house in total silence. It seemed a little tense, but that was probably just Asahi over-thinking things.

 

He couldn’t believe he was actually doing this.

 

Asahi pushed open the door to his house. His mother was still at work, so the house was empty.

 

Nishinoya took off his shoes and set down his bag. He looked around the entryway curiously.

 

“Pardon the intrusion.” He called out to the empty house. Asahi led him to the living room, and sat down on the couch.

 

“What are you thinking we’re gonna do?” Noya asked. Asahi hadn’t thought that far ahead.

 

“Maybe we could watch a movie? It’s kinda late already, and I’m pretty tired.”

 

“Good idea.” Nishinoya looked around the room again. “Can I use your shower first? I’m all sweaty from practice.”

 

Asahi pointed him in the direction of the bathroom. He heard the water start up from outside the door. Nishinoya was at his house now. Asahi could tell him whenever he wanted. It wasn’t a fun kind of freedom.

 

“Um! I don’t have clothes to change into!” Noya called from inside the bathroom. His voice sounded muffled by the water. Asahi was struck by a moment of panic before he realized, no, Noya was not going to walk around butt-naked in his house.

 

“I’ll lend you something!” He called back.

 

He ran to his room. Would he have anything that would fit Noya? He was half Asahi’s size. After digging through his drawers for a few minutes, he found a shirt he probably grew out of in his first year. It still looked too big. It would have to do. He grabbed a pair of shorts that would mot definitely be huge on the smaller boy, and headed back to the bathroom.

 

Noya opened the bathroom door when he heard Asahi’s footsteps. He just had a towel around his waist. Asahi handed him the bundle of clothes, and Noya closed the dor again. Walking back to the living room, Asahi felt his face burning. He had seen Noya shirtless before? He was really fit. But Asahi should not think about that right now. He pushed the thought out of his mind immediately. It was just different knowing that they were soul-mates. But it was Noya. He was comfortable around Noya! He shouldn’t be reduced to a blushing mess just because of that. It would make things a lot more awkward than they needed to be.

 

It was going to be awkward to matter what he did, really.

 

Noya came out of the bathroom then. His hair was really cute when it wasn’t gelled up. It made him look a lot smaller than normal. Asahi’s clothes hung off him, and made him look extra tiny. Asahi couldn’t help laughing. Noya scrunched up his face in anger.

 

“Don’t laugh! It’s not my fault these don’t fit! You’re just a giant.” The angry look on Noya’s face made Asahi laugh harder.

 

Noya tried to punch Asahi in the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It was just Noya.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thrilling conclusion

Actually, having Noya stay the night was less eventful than Asahi would have guessed.

He didn't end up telling Noya. He told himself he was just waiting for the right moment, although, honestly, there were many moments that he didn't act on.

But he also had to worry about the training camp that was coming up. Training camps meant communal bathing. Communal bathing meant showing his naked back to everyone. Which was not good.

Yesterday, Asahi had managed to quickly wash up in the tiny window between when Suga and Daichi had finished bathing, and before the second-years came in. But today, Daichi spent a little longer than usual.

Asahi was pulling on his clothes as fast as humanly possible when he heard footsteps. In hindsight maybe he shouldn't have stood with his back to the door. His shirt was halfway over his head when the door opened. His lower back was still woefully uncovered. The footsteps stilled. The split second before he tugged his shirt on all the way and turned around dragged on far too long.

Just his luck. The last person he wanted to see in the doorway.

Noya's face was filled with confusion. His eyes were fixed on Asahi.

Shit. Asahi hoped for a brief second that Noya couldn't have read it, but it was Noya’s handwriting, his signature even. All his careful planning was out the window. Not that he had actually planned anything.  
Nishinoya backed out of the doorway and loudly closed the door.

Was he mad? Asahi couldn’t read his face but he was probably mad. Noya must have assumed that he was the older one, since he hadn’t been approached by anyone yet. Asahi knew it must be a lot to take in. Noya must hate him. For so many reasons. This wasn’t how he had imagined it at all.

But Asahi had been thrown headfirst into this situation and he had to do something about it.

He had thrown Noya into this too.

Asahi almost barreled into Suga as he left the bathroom.

“Asahi!” Suga looked flustered. “What's the hurry?”

“Noya just- he just-”

Suga seemed to get the picture

“OH.”

“Have you seen him?”

“I think he went outside, but-”

Asahi didn't wait for Suga to finish his sentence. He ran past him and pushed the door open to outside. The streetlights were already on even though the sky wasn't quite dark yet.

Noya was sitting on the curb by the road. He was kicking rocks into the street. When he heard Asahi approaching he turned around and stood up. He walked towards Asahi slowly. He looked really angry. Really angry. But there was something else in his face?

“You’re an asshole.” Nishinoya mumbled.

Then Noya pulled Asahi down by the collar and kissed him. Asahi was too shocked to really do anything but flail his arms around a little. Noya’s lips were softer than he’d imagined. Had he imagined that? The kiss just lasted a few seconds before Noya stepped away, but his hands were still clenched in Asahi’s shirt.

An incredibly awkward  silence stretched between them.

“Um.” Asahi didn’t know what to say. There was good reason for that, he thought.

Noya threw his arms around Asahi and buried his face in Asahi’s chest.

“Sorry, I just- out of the blue.” Noya wasn’t making eye contact.

Asahi almost couldn't comprehend the situation. Noya just kissed him? ?????

“Um! It's okay!” Asahi finally said after another too awkward pause.

“It is?” Noya looked up at him. “Can I just say how dumb you are? You're so dumb.”

Noya reached his hand around Asahi's waist, and up the back of his shirt, resting his palm on the name there.

“I am?”

“You have my name as a freaking tramp stamp. You need to tell people these things.”

Asahi didn't say anything. He felt nervous and a little dizzy and not at all the way people said soul-mates were supposed to feel. But he really liked Noya, and apparently Noya liked him enough to kiss him, so did it have to be more complicated than that? They could go as slow as they wanted. Nothing was being asked of them really.

Noya grabbed Asahi's hand and guided it to his own back.

“There's something there now, too. We can keep it private if you want.”

Noya was totally tucked into Asahi's arms by now, and it was nice.

Soul-mates were dumb. Nishinoya wasn't.  
Well he was a little dumb but that's not the point.


End file.
